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The .50-90 Sharps (13x64mmR), also known as the .50-2 1 ⁄ 2" Sharps, is a black-powder rifle cartridge that was introduced by Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company in 1872 as a buffalo (American bison) hunting round. Like other large black-powder rounds, it incorporates a heavy bullet and a large powder volume, leading to high muzzle energies.
Three types of rifles in particular were used by professional bison hunters, namely the Sharps rifle with a 90, 100 or 110 grain powder load, the Springfield Rifle and the Remington No.1 rifle otherwise known simply as the Rolling block. [1] The Sharps was the favorite among hunters because of its accuracy at long range. [2]
The Hawken rifle is a muzzle-loading rifle that was widely used on the prairies and in the Rocky Mountains of the United States during the early frontier days. Developed in the 1820s, it became synonymous with the "plains rifle", the buffalo gun, and a trade rifle for fur trappers, traders, clerks, and hunters.
In the modern day, it is used for Black Powder Cartridge Rifle competitions. [1] While various bullet weights were used, a typical load for the .45-90 was a powder charge 90 grains (5.8 g) gunpowder (black powder) with a bullet weighing 400 grains (26 g). Such a load would have had a muzzle velocity of around 1,300 ft/s (400 m/s).
Sharps began manufacturing sporterized rifles in .50-70 (including .50-90 Sharps, .50-110 Sharps, etc.), with improved sights for longer range shots for use by the buffalo hunters. Modern-made functional replicas of caliber .50-70 historical rifles have been imported into the US by such firms as Davide Pedersoli and A. Uberti, Srl.
Many modern black powder cartridge silhouette shooters use original and replica Sharps rifles to target metallic silhouettes cut in the shapes of animals at ranges up to 500 metres (550 yd). Shiloh Rifle Manufacturing Company and C Sharps Arms of Big Timber, Montana , have been manufacturing reproductions of the Sharps rifle since 1983 ...
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According to company records 8,700 rifles were made in all models from 1878 until the Sharps Rifle Co. closed down in 1881. [1] Although it was designed for the huge black powder "buffalo" cartridges of the day, it came too late, at the very end of the great bison slaughter. [2]